Southampton are facing a summer of change following their relegation from the Premier League and one of the players being linked with a move away is Portuguese midfielder Mateus Fernandes.
Following rumours perpetuated by TalkSPORT pundit Simon Jordan that the club may be up for sale and the dismal campaign that Saints have endured on the pitch, there is a fair bit of uncertainty surrounding the club as they head into the final few weeks of the campaign.
The likes of Aaron Ramsdale, Kyle Walker-Peters and Tyler Dibling are all expected to depart St Mary’s this summer as they are once again forced into a rebuild in the Championship.
A further piece of uncertainty has been added with the potential departure of Mateus Fernandes, who joined the south coast outfit for a fee believed to be in the region of £15 million from Sporting CP.
According to Fabrizio Romano, there is interest in the Portuguese midfielder amid reports that Serie A giants Juventus were looking at the Portugal U21 international.
Meanwhile, Football League World’s resident Southampton fan pundit, Martin Sanders, has predicted an imminent departure for Fernandes, who he believes to be a Premier League-quality player in spite of his side’s relegation with a whimper.
Given the reported £15 million outlay from Saints to sign Fernandes in the first place, FLW has used FootballTransfers data-driven Player Valuation Model to get an Estimated Transfer Value of the 20-year-old.
How much AI values Southampton FC’s Mateus Fernandes
According to FootballTransfers’ ETV model, Southampton midfielder Fernandes could cost just over £19 million for any potential suitors if a sale was to be sanctioned this summer.
The model suggests that Fernandes’ transfer value has grown from around £1.5 million in March 2024 and also would indicate that Saints overpaid for the Sporting CP youngster in the first place.
Of course, though, this is purely an AI-model and the reality is that Southampton will demand a much more significant fee than Fernandes, given just how well he has performed since joining from Sporting.
At the time of Southampton’s purchase of the former Estoril loanee, Fernandes is said to have had a market value of around £5 million, rather than the three times that number that Saints eventually paid for the Olhao-born midfielder who had 35 top-flight appearances before the move to England.
The model suggests that the highest valued player at Southampton at the moment is Dibling, who is valued at just short of £28 million, whilst the other two players most heavily linked with a move away, Ramsdale and Walker-Peters, are apparently worth just short of £16 million and just over £14 million respectively.
Southampton FC’s upcoming fixtures and summer transfer window
As Southampton head into the final few weeks of the campaign, they are seeking to avoid finishing the season with the joint lowest Premier League points tally of 11 alongside Derby County.
Saints, who have Simon Rusk currently at the helm in his second interim spell as Southampton boss this season following the sackings of both Russell Martin and Ivan Juric, currently sit on 11 points with four games of the campaign to go.
